Deer Party
Night fell over the plains.
Streetlamps came alive, catching the moon’s borrowed light in their glow. Mana stones shed their pale yellow beams, keeping the path ahead from sinking into darkness despite the cold road.
Instead of the songs that had long since dwindled away, the chirring of insects and the soldiers’ snores drifted between the tents.
I don’t understand any of this.
Lilian walked among the tents, unable to settle down. She was not the sort to pace about when she should have been off duty, so there had to be a reason she kept circling like this.
He actually started cooking, of all things. And monster meat, at that.
It wasn’t that she disliked the complaint of monster dishes being served as rations. In fact, mandragora meat suited her palate rather well.
And then he served it to us himself.
Joren Tamer had never had time for such trivial chores. Only a few days ago, she would not have believed it possible.
And on top of that… he’s converting monsters? I’ve heard of no ability like that, not from rumor or firsthand accounts. If he had learned necromancy or spirit arts, I might have believed it, but this…
It was a sight she could not believe even after seeing it with her own eyes: mandragora obeying human speech.
No. I already chose to believe it, didn’t I? In the company captain... no, in the lord.
She stopped before the lord’s tent. The lights were still on. A shadow stood inside, arms folded as though in silent watch.
He’s still awake?
Lilian took one step forward, then two back again.
She could charge an enemy without hesitation, yet why was it so difficult to approach her superior’s quarters?
No?!
Someone was swinging a sword beside the standing lord!
“My lord!”
She had no spear, but she rushed in at once.
“Ah, shit. You startled me!”
“My lord?!”
The one holding the sword was the lord himself.
What she had taken for the lord had been a straw dummy.
“Were you training?”
“Well, as you can see.”
The Border Count barely stopped the blade that had nearly come down on Lilian.
“...Haa.”
Lilian let out a long breath. Relief and irritation came out in equal measure.
* * *
“So, if I follow your logic, my lord, the side effects of resurrection made you forget swordsmanship… no, it seems you lost it entirely? And you forgot how to handle aura as well?”
“That’s right.”
Lilian sighed again. This one carried pity and concern.
“I felt that way too when I watched you fight earlier. From the way you held the sword to your footwork, everything was worse than a recruit’s.”
Instead of saying, Are you fucking kidding me? Ho-yeong lowered his head.
“Losing skills or memories after resurrection isn’t unheard of, so… I suppose there’s nothing to be done. But there is one thing I’m curious about.”
“One thing, was it?”
“First...”
“That’s not one thing!”
The former company captain was furious at her deputy’s arithmetic.
She had done the same thing a few days ago, too. She said she only had one question, then went on to interrogate him with several more.
“How can your swordsmanship be worse than a beginner’s, but your physical strength has improved?”
Ho-yeong flinched.
“Not only did you grab that heavy mandragora with one hand and throw it, but when you swung your sword, you chopped the bastards to pieces.”
Her eye for detail was frightening.
“It was almost like another person’s strength had been added to yours.”
And so was her stare.
“Haha. Well, if you lose one thing, you gain another, don’t you?”
He tried to brush it off, but her questions were far from over.
“And then there’s this ability to convert monsters. I’ve never heard of power like that being granted to anyone.”
“You saw it just now.”
“...I am not trying to make a joke.”
Lilian made no effort to hide the boiling irritation in her voice. It was not a feeling she was used to having toward the superior she admired, so she did not know how to handle it.
“Besides, it’s one thing to make criminals into territory subjects, but to rely on monsters as well... if it had been the lord of old, no, the company captain, even if he had possessed such power, he would never have used it.”
“Because it would be against a knight’s honor?”
At Ho-yeong’s question, she fell silent. She did not say, You know that already, so why ask?
“Honor doesn’t feed the territory’s people. It can’t even protect them.”
“But...!”
“Lilian.”
Ho-yeong sheathed his sword and slowly approached her.
“I know you’re confused. I am, too. I never imagined that dying and living again would be so disorienting. Even now, this is very hard for me. So I’d like to ask one favor.”
Lilian’s eyes, lifted to the lord’s face, began to waver.
“Speak, my lord.”
“Wait for me. Even if I’m a little different from the person you knew... I’ll try to become that person again, at least enough that you can see him once more. So trust me and follow me, the way I trust you. And please, say nothing of this to anyone else.”
The wavering ceased, and moisture welled in her eyes.
“You said... to ask only one thing.”
“You really do take after someone.”
Lilian lowered her head and bit her lip, holding back both laughter and tears.
“I’m sorry. Instead of being of any help to you, I’ve only made things harder.”
“It’s fine.”
“Then from this moment on, I will help you. First, take up that wooden sword over there.”
“...Why the wooden sword?”
Her expression changed at once.
She pulled the wooden practice sword from the dummy’s waist and handed it over.
“I will instruct you in swordsmanship.”
“Huh? No, what are you—”
“You said you would work to regain the self I knew, did you not? Then I will assist you. What has been lost can be learned again.”
Ho-yeong remembered the game’s story. It had been Joren who taught Lilian swordsmanship and spearwork.
“Prepare yourself.”
It sounded to Ho-yeong an awful lot like, Brace yourself.
Joren Tamer had been a strict teacher. The flashback scenes that had flickered by in passing had described brutal training sessions, after all.
“The lessons you gave me, I will return them to you now.”
The first of those lessons: do not blink while being beaten with a wooden sword.
* * *
“Damn it, Lilian... you really are vicious.”
Ho-yeong clutched his throbbing forehead, which had been knocked about so hard it felt as though it were rattling loose.
“To dare do this to my master... I can never forgive her...”
“Peach, somehow you seem more upset than I am. Hot, hot, hot.”
He nearly spilled the tea the maid Peach had brewed for him.
After several hours of crash-course training, or rather indoctrination, in swordsmanship and aura use, his whole body was a wreck.
“You should go and rest as well. It’s past midnight.”
“...Would it be all right if I stayed at your side, Master?”
Peach crossed her arms and bent forward, but...
“You can stay out of the way if you like, but can you help me mix the marinade? There’s a lot of bulgogi seasoning left.”
To Ho-yeong’s eyes, she was nothing more than a pair of bothersome lumps.
“That’s too much...”
After sending Peach away, Ho-yeong stretched out his body.
“Ugh. Every bone in me hurts. Maybe I should’ve asked her for a massage instead of trying to kick her out.”
His body was in ruins, but the results were there.
“Still... I guess it’s good that I’m finally training properly, even if this is all I get. I’ve at least picked up the basics of aura control.”
The problem revealed in the earlier battle had been obvious.
The hardware’s great, but the software is garbage.
Mandragora had not been much of a problem, but he needed to prepare for stronger monsters ahead.
Once I reach the territory, I’m going to have mountains of work waiting for me. So before that, I need to raise my personal combat power as much as I can. For now, I’ll have to keep taking the field and charging in front.
The subordinates who still followed him did so not yet as their lord, but as their company captain and knight.
Of course, he had that cheat-like ability to convert enemies, but he could not afford to depend on it alone.
What if ogre-type bastards show up in a mob? What if there are flying monsters? Converting one or two won’t solve that. And my sword alone won’t solve it either. So swordsmanship has to be only a form of self-defense. It can’t become my main weapon.
What he ultimately had in mind was a powerful ranged weapon.
Bow? Useless. I already have archers. What I need is firepower, firepower.
That was the conclusion reached by a proud former artilleryman of the Republic of Korea.
Making a gun is not the right choice. It’d be hard to build, and picking off one target at a time wouldn’t be efficient.
It had been the same when he played the game, Reign of Dice. No matter how strong a single blow might be, Ho-yeong had always preferred wide-area attacks over single-target damage.
A cannon... no, something like a hand cannon would be good. Something small enough to carry around by myself.
He thought of the Joseon-era Seungja Chongtong. There were several problems with operating fixed artillery.
Heavy cannons are hard to move. They’d also eat up too many resources.
For Ho-yeong, surviving and returning to his own world mattered above all else.
Besides, if I’m the ranged damage dealer, I don’t have to stand there with a sword and fight up close, right? Yeah. That’s perfect.
For him, a hand cannon seemed like an ideal idea.
Passive skill unlocked! The desire for larger, stronger firepower has unlocked a new ability.
[Nation of Artillery] (Lv.1): When operating cannon-type weapons, fire control and aim become easier.
“Oh. A passive skill? Good thing I served in artillery... but I’d still need resources and technical skill to make a cannon, wouldn’t I? Damn it.”
The practical problem gave him a headache.
Your Guardian is informed that Tamer Territory is rich in mineral resources, including Ancient Mana Stones.
Ancient Mana Stone. An artifact far more potent than an ordinary mana stone. A precious treasure obtainable only in unexplored lands, dragon lairs, or deep within dungeons.
“Really? Ancient Mana Stones... now that I think about it, I had one myself.”
Ho-yeong muttered as he toyed with the gemstone in his brooch. It had been awarded for a major achievement he had earned years ago.
“If I could use this properly, I could probably make a decent cannon in no time. Hmm, but even if I have resources, there’s still a problem. I need the skill to make things.”
As he grumbled, the status window continued to inform him.
In the case of technical expertise, this can be reinforced by recruiting dwarf engineers or mages.
“Dwarves, huh... there were a couple in the prison when I was scouting recruits.”
But they had not been hired, since their specialties lay only in combat.
“I’d probably need mages too. They’d be useful for wide-area attacks, and their utility is excellent.”
At a later branching point, you will be able to choose between a mage and a dwarf.
He was just about to complain that there wasn’t a way to get both when—
“T-there’s urgent news!”
A sentry hurried in, bringing someone with him.
“What brings you here at such a late hour, Captain?”
It was Rio, the guard captain of the station. He had run so hard that sweat dripped from beneath his helmet.
“I beg your immediate aid, Border Count! A troll and a gremlin have each appeared in two nearby villages. We need assistance at once.”